To Cool Fire and Tame a Tiger
by violetjewelz
Summary: Originally, their intent was merely to get a decent grade on a college project. But, before long, the girls find their goals have become more individualistic; one desires to cool fire and the other seeks to tame a tiger. Hotaru x OC - Benitora x OC


**Author's Note**: I was so disappointed in the lack of Samurai Deeper Kyo fanfictions on here that I felt the need to write one of my own. I won't be surprised if it doesn't go over too well, because I know that it is a blatant self-insertion, but I'm not writing to appease a publisher so I can make money off of my writing (hah, like that would ever happen!), nor do I have tons of fans expecting something miraculous here.

I suppose what I am trying to say is that I wrote this just for fun, so although I would love any and all reviews and will take any constructive criticism offered, please don't flame me just because this is a self-insertion. Thank you and enjoy!

* * *

"What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions ...

every view of the world that becomes extinct, every culture that disappears, diminishes a possibility of life."

_Octavio Paz_, 1914-1988

** To Cool Fire and Tame a Tiger** **  
**

chapter one:

this wasn't in the course description!

* * *

_For this project, you will be teaming up with a classmate from any Honors Humanities or Honors Civilization class, respectively. The two of you will be researching a certain time period--focusing on aspects such as the era's history, culture and language. You will be assigned a certain country by one of your professors and you will be permitted to elect a time period of significant importance to that country's history and culture. Guidelines, requirements and specifics are outlined in detail below._

_This assignment will be due the week before finals. You will not have time to work on this project during classtime, so you will have to set aside plenty of time to meet with your selected partner over the next two months. And, just a reminder, since you are given much longer time than ordinary to complete this assignment, your professors _will _be expecting something an Honors Program student would be able to produce after many weeks of notice._

_We want you to study your chosen time period so intensively that you will be able to report to your fellow Honors Program students as if you truly lived during that era._

_...and be sure to have fun!_

That's what Kristin despised the most about long, drawn-out school projects. Sure, you were provided with plenty of time during which to complete the assignment, but what did that matter? Most everyone waited until the last week to finish a project, anyways. Aside from some preliminary research probably brought on by possible initial excitement (which soon died out upon the sudden realization that this was, after all, meant for school and therefore would be graded; and such a thought always sufficed to suck the fun right out of _that_ project idea), no one ever did any work right away.

She would rather have two days to write an essay--or even a week to write a ten-plus paged term paper than to do this. The general idea was intriguing, as Kristin was always keen on learning about other cultures. But she learned long ago that no matter how interesting the topic was, the fact that it was _required_ was enough to leave a project impervious to any fun.

She learned this as soon as she read _Island of the Blue Dolphins_ three years after having to read it in fifth grade and actually _enjoying _it, even though she had abhorred it back in elementary school after pages and pages of vocabulary and numerous questions that only tested to see if you actually read the book instead of being questions that would have actually provoked some critical thinking that would have shown the student had truly read and _understood_ the book then just skimmed it for the most useless descriptions so that an answer could have easily been supplied when faced with a question such as, "What was Karana's skirt made out of?"

_Sobrevivo por pura ansiedad, con el nudo en la garganta..._

Grabbing her cell phone that sat next to her computer's keyboard, Kristin flipped it open before answering. "Hello?"

"Hey, woman. What's up?"

It was Alyssa, who could probably be considered Kristin's best friend in college. They were sorority sisters and across-the-hall-roommates. Plus, even though they weren't from the same hometown, they were from basically the same city.

Kristin smiled as she responded. "Nothing much; just ruminating over my latest Humanities assignment--"

"Oh!" Alyssa's voice interrupted her. "I just got out of Civ and I probably got the same assignment..."

"The past culture one?"

"Yep, that's the one."

"Well," Kristin began, trying to finally settle an opinion on the project, "it sounds... interesting?" She didn't quite know why that came out as more of a question than a statement. Perhaps if she _thought_ it would be interesting, she would be yet again disappointed--as she always had been since fifth grade.

"I think so, too," Alyssa replied, non-plussed by Kristin's seeming indifference. "I just don't know how, uh... 'into' it they expect us to get."

Kristin nodded, before remembering that body movements could not be noticed over the phone line. "Yeah, I was wondering to what extent they expect us to research it. The paper told us that we would have to present our time period as if we, ourselves, lived in it." Kristin paused for a split second. "That's some pretty detailed research."

"I'd say," Alyssa agreed, laughing slightly. "When we present, we should dress up and then act like we really did live back then--as if we came to the future to remind ignorant American students of other countries' pasts!"

It was now Kristin's turn to laugh and her laughter was much more prolonged than that of her friend. "Haha, yeah right, Alyssa. As if traveling in time is even possible. I think you've been reading too many stories."

"Oh, whatever, Kristin." For a moment, Kristin thought she was imagining hearing double, but then she heard a slight 'thud' as a bag was dropped onto her dorm room floor. Looking up from her computer, Kristin noticed Alyssa leaning against the doorframe. Alyssa flipped her phone shut as she continued the conversation in person. "You're the one with the over-active imagination. You're always imagining traveling to different places."

"Well, yes," Kristin found herself admitting, "but when I say different places, I mean different _countries_, not time periods!"

Alyssa shrugged as she walked over to the bed that belonged to Kristin's roommate (who was actually never there since she stayed with her senior boyfriend in his apartment) and plopped down on the green-sheeted mattress. "When you talk about going to places like South Africa, you might as well be talking about different eras."

Kristin got up from her desk and hopped onto her purple-sheeted bed that was slightly higher than her roommate's. She looked down at Alyssa and said in a patient voice that still couldn't cover up her resolution in achieving her current dream, "You know that's more than just a fleeting dream, Alyssa. I am going to _go_ to South Africa so that I can actually _be _there for a World Cup match."

Alyssa looked away from Kristin, instead focusing on the fall foliage outside the dorm room's window. "I wouldn't be too sure about that. Although you get impassioned when the topic is brought up, you hardly mention it yourself anymore and I'm sure that the whole 'saving up 10,000' isn't really going according to plan..."

Kristin sighed and gazed out the window, but she didn't really focus on anything on the other side. "You're right." She averted her eyes from the window and looked down at her hands as she sat on her bed. "Whenever I get passionate about something, it never seems to last for more than a year or two. By summertime, my passion for soccer will probably be extinguished." Kristin finally looked back at Alyssa, who had stopped looking out the window and turned her attention to her closest friend. "That's probably why I have yet to invest any of my saved money on the trip."

Alyssa was beginning to think that perhaps Kristin was starting to become sad--something that she had rarely seen, even though she knew Kristin the best--but a chuckle was soon being emitted from her friend's lips.

Kristin laughed as she grinned at the reddish-brown-haired girl in front of her. "Sure, there may be a few hot footballers out there, but they're not worth spending thousands of dollars for which to travel half-way across the world."

Alyssa smiled. To someone who didn't know Kristin, that could have been taken as a shallow comment, but Alyssa knew Kristin was far from shallow. True, she appreciated a good-looking man with a nicely built body, but Kristin valued personality and intelligence just as much. At least that's why Alyssa deduced Kristin had never had a boyfriend. In their time at college, it wasn't for lack of suitors that Kristin hadn't had a boyfriend, that's for sure. Kristin just didn't like ignorant boys who were either sheltered or immature. What Kristin needed was a man whom she could respect—and you earned Kristin's respect by what you went through and how you dealt with those experiences. Not by wealth, looks or any of the qualities society deemed important.

"Yeah," Alyssa finally found herself replying. "Cristiano Ronaldo may seem like a sex god, but he's not a true god, so what's he worth going through for?"

Kristin's grin grew wider as her lips formed one, simple word; "Nothing."

"Exactly!"

"But he _is_ hot!" Kristin interjected, before the two fell into fits of laughter on the two beds as they conversed over memories of a certain interview they had recently seen that featured the Portuguese soccer player.

Wiping the tears of mirth from her eyes, Kristin smiled at her closet friend. Alyssa really was a good friend. Where Kristin's other friends merely rolled their eyes in annoyance whenever she brought up the topic of soccer, Alyssa would at least genuinely enjoy a conversation surrounding any of the hot soccer players Kristin had uncovered for her. And, even though it was usually Kristin who was the one cheering people up and bringing them out of their depressed slumps or bad moods, Alyssa was friend enough to be able to return the favor when Kristin was in her rare minutes of—well, not depression, but not happiness, either. And Alyssa was the only one who would be patient when Kristin would bring up a certain boy that had 'used' her during their first semester of college. Everyone else always told her to forget it, but Alyssa was, once again, patient. That was probably why they were such close friends. They would both actually, _truly_ listen to each other's problems and try to help solve them.

"So," Alyssa's voice brought Kristin out of her thoughts. "Dr. MacLaren told us that the Humanities students were assigned the countries and we would just partner up with who he wanted, as long as we were okay with that person's country..."

Alyssa trailed off, without supplying a question, but Kristin knew the implication in her words. Fishing out the slip of paper from her jeans pocket, she handed it to Alyssa, saying what was on it; "Japan."

Alyssa frowned at this. "Oh. I was hoping for a European country. Asian culture doesn't really interest me in the least. Kind of boring, if you ask me."

Kristin looked thoughtful for a few moments before she responded to Alyssa's comment. "Yeah, it doesn't really seem all that interesting at first glance, but I'm sure their culture is just as rich as that of any of the European countries. Surely there's some interesting history in the many years Japan has existed."

The two girls looked at each other, noticing as they both had the same idea in mind. Kristin hopped off of her bed, Alyssa leapt up from the roommate's bed and they ran the few short steps to Kristin's computer.

Sitting down, Kristin quickly drew up Google's homepage and typed in 'History of Japan' in the search field. Clicking on the Wikipedia link, Kristin read aloud as Alyssa looked, as well. "Japanese pre-history, Ancient and Classical Japan, Feudal Japan, Meiji Restoration..." Kristin stopped reading the categories since Alyssa could read herself, after all.

Kristin was the first to speak. "Well, I don't want to do anything too recent, because we already know about that history. But I don't want to do anything prehistoric, because there's probably not too much about that."

"Mhmm," Alyssa murmured her agreement. "Then what about one of the periods during Feudal Japan?"

"Sounds good," Kristin said, clicking on the 'Feudal Japan' link. "I'd say that we choose a period that didn't span across too many years, because then we'd have too much to choose from."

Alyssa once again agreed, this time nodding her head in order to show her acquiescence. "It looks like the Azuchi-Momoyama period only lasted about ... 32 years."

"That's definitely manageable," Kristin said, agreeing.

"Well, then," Alyssa began, "that settles that. Now the next question is... where to start?"

Kristin was about to offer a suggestion when Alyssa came up with one herself. "I've got it!" she shouted rather emphatically—which wasn't her normal self. "In order to keep this not incredibly academic and boring, let's start off with something fun."

"Okay..." Kristin barely managed to get out, unsure of where this imposter!Alyssa was going to lead them.

"Remember when I mentioned dressing up?"

"Yes." Kristin did, indeed, remember that. It was, after all, probably less than twenty minutes ago the semi-redhead had said that.

"Then let's go find ourselves some outfits!"

"Now?" Kristin asked, nearly incredulously. Glancing at the clock on the bottom right of her computer, Kristin noted that it was 3:42pm on a school night. It would take hours to find a shop that sold something even remotely Japanese-styled clothing. That's one thing Kristin still hadn't gotten used to when she moved from a big city like Cincinnati, Ohio to the incredibly small Richmond, Kentucky—the fact that you had to drive at least 30 minutes to get to, well, anywhere, really. Besides, she still had Spanish homework to do!

"Yeah!" Alyssa replied, enthusiastically, grabbing Kristin's arm in an attempt to pull her friend out of her seat.

Kristin allowed herself to be pulled up and relented. "Okay. Why not?" Seizing her bag, she grabbed her keys and led Alyssa out of the dorm room. "You ready?"

Alyssa responded by grabbing her bag, as well, and walking down the hallway as Kristin turned the keys in the lock, throwing behind her, "I'll hold the 'vator!" (elevator.)

"Umm... _how_ are we going to pay for this?"

Alyssa looked up from the price tag to see Kristin raising an eyebrow.

"Well, okay," Kristin began to correct herself, "I mean, I do have that much in my checking and savings account, but I'm not going to spend that much for just a school project..."

Alyssa had to admit; 89 was pretty steep. And the outfit she had picked up was just as expensive: 75 for the top and 30 for the bottoms.

"But they're so gorgeous," Alyssa bemoaned, rubbing her hand across the green silk of the clothing she had chosen.

"That they are."

Alyssa and Kristin nearly jumped at the unexpected voice. Turning around, they came face to face with a woman who looked as though she were in her mid-or late-thirties, but something about her made it seem as though she were centuries older than that. The two college girls shared a glance between themselves, wordlessly asking each other if they noticed something... different about this woman.

The woman didn't appear to notice the girls' reactions. "Why don't you try them on?"

Kristin, ever the honest one, couldn't bring herself to let the woman think they were still serious buyers. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but we didn't really realize that these beautiful outfits were so... um, out of our budgets."

"Budget?" echoed the storeowner. "What exactly is this budget for?"

"It's just for a school project," Alyssa began to explain. "We have to research a certain time period in Japanese history."

"Our professors stressed that we should research thoroughly enough so that when we present, it will seem as though we had actually _lived_ during that era," Kristin continued.

"And," Alyssa finished, "we thought that dressing up to play the part would help transport us back to that time... at least in our minds."

The girls missed the transient glint that passed through the woman's eyes as she smiled at them. "Still," she told them. "Try them on... And then we'll discuss pricing. Those prices aren't set in stone."

They didn't need to be told twice and Alyssa went into one changing room while Kristin chose the other one, eager to try on the exquisite garments that they held.

Kristin came out first. She had chosen a dark red and orange kimono with a fitted bodice, which served to push up and enhance Kristin's cleavage. The sleeves, which ended at the elbow, fell gracefully off the shoulders. A deep burgundy sash acted as a obi would, stretching underneath the bust and tying in a big bow at her lower back. She had pulled her hair back into a bun while she changed and a few curly strands had escaped her hair tie.

Alyssa came out a few minutes later. Her entire outfit was a light green. The top criss-crossed in front, a green sash underneath her noticeably smaller bust, tying in front instead of in the back. And that's where the top ended—at her waist. The sleeves were long and tapered off with a sheer lace fabric with an ivy pattern that started a few inches below her shoulder and ended slightly past her fingers. The bottoms were of the same green color, held in place by four, small golden hooks and went in a straight-leg fashion to her calves. Alyssa had kept her hair down while she changed, so her slightly reddish-brown hair fell to about mid-bust.

The storeowner whispered something that sounded like "breathtaking" and she scurried off for a few short moments until she came back with something in each hand. Stepping up to Alyssa, she opened her left hand and produced a long, but thin gold chain. Wrapping it around Alyssa's waist twice, she hooked the end onto the chain, securing the gold chain on Alyssa's body.

She then took a few paces in Kristin's direction and uncurled her right hand, to show three, small yellowish-orange pansies. She gently arranged the three flowers on the left side of Kristin's part—the side where the loose tendrils rested.

Stepping back from the two students, she studied them for a few seconds, before finally telling them, "One last thing... please take off your makeup."

"What?!" The two girls chorused. They weren't surprised because they were reliant on makeup to look pretty, but merely because it was just a strange request.

The woman smiled softly at both of them. "You don't need any," she said, not elaborating any further. She steered them into the bathroom and handed each of them a Neutrogena makeup remover cloth.

When she was satisfied, she smiled once again. "Now you two are perfect."

"Perfect?" Alyssa questioned. "Perfect for what?"

But the storeowner didn't reply. Instead, she reached for a nearby countertop and picked up an old-fashioned camera. Leading the two girls over to where an antique, royally garnished rug acted as a backdrop over the wall, Alyssa and Kristin couldn't help but admire the designs. The rug was split into two designs. The side in front of Kristin was set against a deep burgundy background. Dead center, there was a red fox, surrounded by orange flames. Below the fox, there was a ying-yang symbol that had a bold, black 'X' crossing it out.

Alyssa studied the side in front of her with equal fascination. The backdrop was in green, with a red tiger in the center. A striped bandanna lay unfurled underneath the big cat.

"Turn around girls," the 'thirty-something-year-old' lady commanded, gently. "Time for a picture."

Always ready for a picture, the girls turned around quickly and offered their best smiles.

"Yes, perfect," the lady murmured quietly, as she snapped the photograph.

And, as the flash cleared, three pansy flowers slowly seemed to weave themselves into the mouth of the fox while a gold chain appeared to wrap itself around one of the tiger's front paws. However, with these two new appearances, there were also two disappearances: Alyssa and Kristin had vanished.

"Oh, and by the way," the old lady mentioned to seemingly no one, "my name is Kayo-san."

Turning towards one of the corners of the store, she called out, "Yukio! Takeshi!"

Two boys came running to the sound of their mother's voice. "Can we go back yet?" one of them whined.

"Yes," Kayo sighed. "I've finally found the one for that hapless nephew of mine—and possibly one for one of his friends, as well."

Taking one of her son's hands in each of hers, she began to walk out of the store, turning to glance at the rug on the wall once more. "Good luck, girls. Miss Arsenault, you will soon experience first-hand that Japanese history is _far_ from 'boring,' as you say. And Miss English, you will finally be able to find a man that you can respect—even if you find it hard to get him to respect_ you_ at first."

* * *

Rubbing her hip, Kristin leaned up against the trunk of a tree. She glanced over to her friend, who had somehow landed a few yards away, in the middle of a dirt path. Alyssa was gingerly patting her head as Kristin walked slowly over to where the redhead lay.

"Are you hurt?" Kristin inquired, folding her legs underneath her as she kneeled in order to expect the area that Alyssa was fingering.

"Yes, I think I'm—" Alyssa began, withdrawing her hand from the top of her head to her field of vision, only now noticing the sticky substance, "—bleeding."

"Oh, let me see," Kristin said, softly, placing her finger over the somewhat-bleeding wound. Almost instantly, the blood vanished from where Kristin's fingers had touched skin and the wound healed up.

"What?" Kristin could barely breathe, staring wide-eyed at her hand—as if it were some magical object.

"Wow... that really worked." Alyssa sounded relieved. "What did you do? You didn't happen to stuff a first aid-kit in your kimono before we got here, did you, Nurse English?" Alyssa joked with her friend. "However it was that we _did_ get here, that is..."

"No," Kristin replied shortly, still too amazed to come up with a more intelligible response. "It was ... my hand."

"Your _hand_?" Alyssa's eyes were just as wide as Kristin's when her nearly black irises met Kristin's light chestnut ones. "You healed me with your... _hand_?"

"Yeah." Kristin finally breathed. "I don't kno—"

"Is there a reason you're blocking our way?" a husky, deep voice drawled from in front of the pair. "Or are you two just too dim-witted to notice when people are approaching?"

Although the words of the speaker's insult did nothing to perturb the two girls, the tone in which the words were spoken sent chills down both of their spines. Standing up abruptly, Alyssa and Kristin took in the group in front of them.

The man who had spoken to them was wearing a black kimono and had blood-red eyes. Slightly behind him were a kid who looked to be about twelve, with silver hair and goldish-amber eyes and a man who looked very much a woman with dark black mid-length hair. A very broad-shouldered muscular man with an eyepatch was behind them and a sinewy man wearing a striped bandanna was talking to a blonde-haired, green-eyed girl, wearing a red kimono that ended mid-thigh.

"Er... hello, there," Kristin greeted the group, diplomatically.

The man in black rolled his red eyes. "Just dim-witted, I guess."

Alyssa narrowed her eyes as Kristin replied. "No, I'd say just disoriented and a little shocked. But thank you for caring."

The man threw his head back and laughed, almost maniacally. "_Caring_? Why _would_ I care? I'm Demon Eyes Kyo, killer of a thousand men."

Kristin shared a look with Alyssa, before glancing back at this Kyo guy. "Yeah, sure," she couldn't help but say. "And I'm the Tooth Fairy."

Alyssa linked her left arm with Kristin's right, joining her in their jovial and harmless taunting. "With the Easter Bunny at her service."

One of Kyo's eyes twitched ever so slightly. "Are you ... _mocking_ me?"

The effeminate man stepped up next to the red-eyed 'slayer' and smiled widely at them, but his words were meant as a caveat. "I really wouldn't suggest that! I wouldn't like the road littered with two beautiful young maidens such as yourselves!"

Once again, the two girls looked at each other. Into what exactly had they fallen? It wasn't a movie scene being filmed because there was no camera crew around, it wasn't real-life, because people didn't dress like this anymore and no one carried swords around, saying they killed thousands of people. And Halloween was still a month away... maybe it was some people cosplaying for one of those anime conventions or something like that? Those people really did get passionate about their anime!

"Okay, we'll get out of your way, then," Alyssa stepped off the road and onto the grass.

Kristin followed suit. "Yeah, enjoy your convention!" she said with a smile.

But they didn't make a single move to continue on their jolly way. Instead, Kyo merely looked at them. "What? You think you can just get away after making fun of me?"

Kristin furrowed her eyebrows. "Well ... yeah. It's not like we meant any harm by it. We were just thrown off guard by your appearance and attire," she told him. "So, who are you impersonating?"

The man's red eyes set into a glare the likes of which neither girl had _ever_ seen before. It suddenly felt twenty degrees cooler. They unintentionally shivered. "How _dare_ you! I am _not_ impersonating that Kyoshiro son of a bitch!"

"Kyoshiro?" Alyssa repeated, confused.

"Who's that?" Kristin found herself asking.

"You don't know who Kyoshiro is?!" The bandanna-garbed man suddenly jumped out from behind the group. "Nor Demon Eyes Kyo?"

"Umm, no," Alyssa supplied. "We don't watch anime."

"Well, not much, at least," Kristin corrected.

Alyssa looked at her close friend. "Really? I didn't know you watch anime!"

She shrugged. "I prefer to read the manga, but I don't have much time nor the money for it now that I am in college."

Alyssa was about to respond to that, but quickly swallowed her words when she found a sword tip pointed directly at her throat. "Are you completely unaware of the position that you are in?" The man sneered down at the poor redhead. As if to make Alyssa aware of the position that she _was_ in, he slowly drew the blade tip down an inch, a slight trickle of blood following in the blade's path.

"Hey!" Kristin shouted from nearby. She would have attempted to push the man out of the way, but since his sword was right at her friend's throat, if the man was pushed, he could accidentally cause more damage to Alyssa. "Who do you think you are? Picking on innocent women, huh?"

Kristin suddenly found herself against the rough bark of the tree against which she had minutes ago been leaning. Before she could comprehend it, the man's hand shot out and painfully squeezed her left breast. He made a guttural sound of approval. "Hmm, yes. A woman, indeed... at least you can fill my hand unlike Dogface over there and your friend. But innocent?" He let go of Kristin's chest and leaned back slightly, giving her the once-over from head-to-toe. "With _that_ kind of outfit, I'd think not."

Kristin considered herself pretty brave and others who knew her believed she had a considerable amount of courage, too. And, even though she didn't like what the man was implying—that she was some sort of slut or whore—she wisely didn't react irrationally. She was brave, but not stupid. "Whether or not you consider me to be a loose woman does not matter," she finally said. "When I say 'innocent', I mean that we have done nothing to deserve your harsh treatment."

"Exactly." Kyo turned his head to see that the brunette's friend had moved over to the tree and stood next to Kristin. "So kindly just allow us to go."

Kristin's eyes widened when she noticed just how much blood Kyo's blade had elicited from Alyssa's neck. She found herself admiring the courage with which Alyssa presented herself, even with probably a painful wound. It wasn't fatal in the least, but since when did a modern young adult find herself bleeding from the neck? Kristin slowly glided her hand over the neck wound and was once again astonished to see the blood evaporate into thin air and the wound heal itself.

Kyo also seemed surprised at Kristin's actions. But his eyes didn't stay wide for long and soon Kristin was pressed up against the tree in an even more binding position than before. "What are you?!" he demanded of her. "Some sort of witch?"

"No," Kristin denied, shooting him a strange look, "just a normal twenty-year-old woman."

But Kyo did not relent. "What do you want from us?"

Kristin scoffed in disbelief. "What do I _want _from you? Nothing! Well, maybe for you to leave us alone, but that's it. We don't even _know_ you; why would we want something from you?"

The only female in the group walked over to Kyo's side to supplicate on the two girls' behalf. "Come on, Kyo. Leave them alone. Can't you see they don't mean any harm."

Kyo growled slightly, but heeded the woman's words—more so because he knew the girls didn't harbor any ill intentions than because he felt compelled to do as the blonde asked.

Kristin dipped underneath Kyo's left arm, which he had used to barricade her from escaping, and stood next to Alyssa. The redhead asked them, "So are you not really cosplayers going to an anime convention?"

The blonde girl was obviously confused. "Cosplayers? What is that?"

Alyssa rolled her eyes. "Oh, nevermind. I guess that answers our question."

"Anyways, I'm Kristin Eng--"

"Well, I'm Shiina Yuya!"

The blonde and the brunette stopped their introductions and looked at each other. They had begun to introduce themselves at the same exact time. Soon, they were both laughing.

"So what did you say your name was? Kristin what?"

"English. Kristin English," she repeated, feeling rather James Bond-ish for the moment.

"And you are?" Yuya glanced over at the redhead.

"I'm Alyssa Arsenault."

"Pleased to meet you," Yuya said, before waving a hand towards the rest of the group. "Allow me to introduce you to the rest of us. "He," she began, nodding in the direct of the red-eyed creep, "as you know, is Kyo." Pointing to the feminine-looking male, she said, "Yukimura-san," then pointed to the man with the bandanna, "Benitora," then the boy, "Sasuke," and then to the biggest one. "And Bontenmaru."

"Nice to meet all of you," Kristin greeted them with a smile—even if she was stretching the truth about it being 'nice' to meet that Kyo. She was just being polite.

Alyssa nodded, her nonverbal action meaning the same as Kristin's words.

"This may sound weird to ask," Kristin began, hoping that they would be patient with the two of them, "but where exactly are we?"

"We're in the Aokigahara," Yukimura told them, his face and voice suddenly serious, "_The Sea of Trees—_the forest from which no one escapes."

The two girls laughed nervously, not sure what to make of this man's sudden change of disposition. "So, umm, where exactly is that?" Alyssa finally asked.

Benitora scratched his head. "Well, umm, it's at the base of a big mountain," he helpfully tried to supply.

The two college students' faces were blank for a few moments until Kristin's eyes suddenly widened in realization. "Wait, this forest's name sounded Asian and 'a big mountain' might possibly be Mt. Fuji..." she trailed off, before focusing her attention on the group. "Are we in ... _Japan_?"

The group collectively looked at the two girls like they were idiots.

"God!" Kyo shouted out in irritation. "You really _are_ dim-witted! What the fuck?! Of course we're in Japan! How do you not even know what _country_ you're in?"

The girls ignored the barb from the slayer; they were too busy trying to take this information in.

"Are you okay?" Yuya asked hesitantly, upon noticing that the girls' faces had suddenly become pallid.

"Not ... really," Alyssa bit out.

"Pfft, whatever," Kyo disregarded them. "Let's leave them to gawk like the retards they are and be on our way." And, with that said, he turned away from the group and continued into the forest. The majority of the group started after Kyo, but Benitora and Yuya hesitated, shooting worried glances at the girls.

"Wait!" Kristin finally called out, realizing that they were about to be left alone in an unknown country. "Can we, umm... accompany you?" she asked the two strangers in front of her. "At least just for the time being?"

Even though Kyo had already had an ample head start, he had heard the girl and offered her a simple response; "No."

Yuya just glared at Demon Eyes Kyo before turning back to offer the girls a reassuring smile. "Sure! Don't listen to what he says. He's not really all that bad."

Kristin briefly glanced at the man in question, who had already given up and was starting to walk away again. She raised an eyebrow at the younger woman. "Heh, if you say so..."

"Well, come on then!" Yuya called to them as she herself began after Kyo.

Kristin and Alyssa looked at each other shortly. Sure, sure, they both knew what their mothers had ingrained into their brains nearly at birth: "Never talk to strangers." But, it would seem as though they already _had_ talked to them and besides... this wasn't your daily circumstance...

Making up their minds, the two young women squared their shoulders. "Coming!!" they chorused together as they finally ran to catch up to their new group.

* * *

chapter one **end**

All right! There's the first chapter. Awfully long, I know, but I couldn't help it. I just started typing and, before I knew it, I was already at twelve pages! If you have the time to review, I would greatly appreciate it, but don't feel obligated. The fact that you read this entire chapter will be enough to make me smile!

But, if you do review, here's a question for you:

_**Who do you think is the most attractive guy in SDK**_**?**

Haha, how could I resist asking that question?


End file.
